Kuri happily headed back to the cell, opening it. "I'm back!"
She gasped when she saw his hair. He had black roots!
The man she knew as Kaneki looked up from his book- "Hello," he greeted. "Who are you?"
Kuri blinked back tears. He didn't remember her! "I'm…I'm Hikawa Kuri." She looked up at him cautiously. "Who are you?"
"Sasaki Haise." He replied.
Kuri could have broken into tears right then. What did Arima do to him?
"Nice to meet you Sassan." Kuri had a nickname for him easily. "So Arima tells me you are being released today?"
"Yes I am." Kaneki—no, Haise—smiled.
"Well I'm in charge of the Quinx project." Kuri lied through her teeth. She would be soon, she'd make sure of it! "So you'll be staying at my place with the Quinxes. You are in charge of the team, but I'm gonna be the chaperone. Cool ne? "
Haise chuckled. "A chaperone huh?"
"Uh!" Kuri stammered. "Not for you! For the quinxes!"
"Ah that makes sense." Haise reasoned. "Guess we both are chaperones."
Kuri blushed at that. "Are you ready Sassan? Oh! You finished the book! Was it good? I loved it!" Kuri quickly changed the subject cuz that made it sound like they were parents.
Haise smiled eagerly. "Oh yes! It was amazing! Thank you!"
Kuri smiled. "Ready?" She helped him up.
"Yes I'm ready." Haise smiled at her.
It seemed like a happy ending, it really did. But right at the gate, Kuri was ripped away from Haise and thrown into the night, where she had to build up a new identity from scratch and plot another meeting with Haise, one they could not ignore.
And that's what had her, walking barefoot through the fountain at midnight, clutching her bulging writer's notebook, examining a corpse, and catching Haise's eye once more.